Not a babysitter –

Everyone has those hot button issues that get their blood boiling. For me one of those issues is viewing school as child care. This morning on the news I heard a report about how parents of one Albuquerque school were angry because the school wanted to change start times to accommodate students and deal with construction delays. In the past I have heard similar reports that parents are opposed to professional development or in-service days for teachers. All because it is inconvenient for them and they have no one to watch their kids, nothing to do with them for extended periods of time, no one to get them to and from school, and so forth.

This is where I want to scream – TEACHERS ARE NOT BABYSITTERS and SCHOOLS AREN’T FOR DAYCARE .

Okay, I am better now. Kinda.

But seriously teachers are college educated professionals. We are expected to teach a variety of subjects, make sure kids can perform to the educational standards mandated by law as well as maintain a classroom that is safe and productive. I honestly don’t believe that any teacher went to school to be considered a babysitter or child care professional. And it’s not that we do not care about our students, that we do not want them to safe and well cared for, but their well being is not our sole or primary concern.

Even though we often spend more time with them than their parents do, we are not their parents. However due to what I feel like is the breakdown of society, teachers are now expected to provide the social, behavioral and other training to help make kids productive members of society. Things that were once the job of the parent and took place in the home are now being given to the school and teachers. (I feel another blog idea coming on!) But seriously, who am I to impose my ideals and values on someone else’s kids?

Schools are NOT daycare. There are babysitters that make more than teachers. When the kids go home, the babysitters are off. Once a classroom clears, a teacher still has lesson plans to create, copies to make, papers to grade, grades to record, reports to file, and the list goes on.

I am not a parent, but I really don’t understand how or why the responsibility for childcare becomes a school issue. I cannot wrap my mind around that idea. But I am about to digress into a whole other can of worms so I will stop for now.